Capitol Communicator is running a series featuring an in-depth look at communicators in the mid-Atlantic.  In this “Up Close and Personal” profile, we feature Zach Goodwin. Photography for the series is by Cade Martin, wardrobe styling by Pascale Lemaire and Sybil Street for THE Artist Agency; and hair and makeup by Patti D Nelson, Janice Kinigopoulos and Lori Pressman for THE Artist Agency.

Zach, please provide us a short bio.

I’m Executive Creative Director at ISL. I’m originally from Chicago, and I still wonder aloud to myself about how I wound up in DC. To my great embarrassment, I have two cats.

Are you involved in any other organizations?

Somehow, nope. I am bad at joining things!

What are the things you are most proud of?

 I’m genuinely proud of the creative team we’ve built at ISL. I’m ludicrously biased, of course, but I don’t think there is fiercer creative team around.

Who are your personal role models?

 My dad was a graphic designer, and I spent half my childhood in his studio. There was always a vaguely disorganized, happy mania to his office — comps taped to the walls, paper samples piled across a cutting board. From the time I was ten or eleven, I couldn’t imagine another career. And my dad was my design icon from the very beginning.

Did your dad offer professional advice that helped you in your career?

Make your next project better than your last.

What professional advice do you have for others?

Don’t wait for permission to attack a new medium, a new category. Practice is the only path to mastery but there is also magic in tackling something you’re inexpert in.

What’s on your Spotify and Pandora playlists?

At the moment, “Nothing’s Gonna Hurt You” by Cigarettes After Sex and it’s pretty excellent.